Turkey issues arrest warrant for former CIA official over coup attempt

ISTANBUL — Turkey issued an arrest warrant on Friday for a former CIA official on charges of attempting to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government, a move likely to put further strain on deteriorating ties between Ankara and Washington.

Turkey’s chief prosecutor accuses Graham Fuller, a former vice president of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council, of links to the Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gülen. Ankara considers Gülen the mastermind of last year’s coup attempt.

According to news outlet Hurriyet, the charges against Fuller include attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and the country’s constitutional order, as well as “obtaining state information that must be kept secret for political and military espionage purposes.”

A government official said he could not elaborate on the charges against Fuller.

In 2006, long after he had retired from the CIA, Fuller wrote a letter supporting Gülen’s application for a U.S. green card. Shortly after last year’s coup, he published an opinion piece in the Huffington Post, praising Gülen and his secretive movement as a peaceful Islamic group.

In response to news of the warrant, Fuller said: “I have not set foot in or even near Turkey in five years. […] The night of the coup attempt in Turkey I happen to have been addressing a group of 100 people or so right here in the town in western Canada where I have been living for the last 15 years.”

“I am only marginally swept up among many Turks in the ongoing wave of arrests, persecutions and cashiering of tens of thousands of Turks—journalists, judges, academics, military officers, police officers—all perceived as enemies of Erdogan’s state. […] I, at least, am lucky not to be living there, a country I have long admired,” he added.

In Turkey, more than 50,000 people have been arrested and some 150,000 have lost their jobs over alleged ties to — or sympathy for — the Gülen movement.

Washington’s continued refusal to extradite Gülen has infuriated Ankara.

The warrant is another blow to already fraught U.S.-Turkish ties. The prosecutor’s announcement coincides with the trial of a Turkish banker accused of helping Iran evade American sanctions that began earlier this week.

In that trial on Thursday, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab — a defendant turned star witness for the prosecution — implicated Erdoğan, telling a New York court that the president had approved an international money-laundering scheme that allowed Tehran to circumvent sanctions.

Zarrab also testified that he had paid Zafer Çağlayan, Turkey’s economy minister at the time, bribes totaling up to €50 million, plus more in other currencies, to facilitate his scheme.

Turkish officials and the pro-government press have denounced the trial as politically motivated, accusing U.S. prosecutors of links to the Gülen movement. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said Zarrab had been “pressured into committing slander.”

“Fabricated evidence, a pro-[Gülenist] judge, a clear plot against Turkey,” was the verdict of pro-government daily Sabah at the trial’s opening on Wednesday. Ankara claims that wiretaps used as evidence in the trial were recorded and manipulated by Gülenists.

Aside from the sanctions case, U.S.-Turkish ties are plagued by multiple disputes. The two NATO allies are at odds in Syria, where Washington supports a Syrian-Kurdish militia that Turkey considers a terror threat.

Washington’s continued refusal to extradite Gülen has infuriated Ankara. U.S. officials insist Turkey has not provided sufficient proof of the cleric’s guilt.

Last month, Ankara denied reports that Turkish officials plotted with President Donald Trump’s former adviser Michael Flynn to forcibly remove Gülen from U.S. soil and bring him to Turkey.

A special forces soldier on the first anniversary of the July 15, 2016 failed coup | Chris McGrath/Getty Images

And in October, U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey suspended the majority of visa services after a Turkish U.S. consulate employee was detained for alleged ties to the Gülen movement.

Turkey responded in kind, also banning tourist visas on arrival for most U.S. citizens, sending the Turkish lira into a downward spiral.

Fuller is not the only American citizen wanted by Ankara: In November, Turkey issued a warrant for U.S. academic Henri Barkey, accusing him of participating in the coup attempt.

Authors:

Related stories on these topics:

doe anderson

wonder how long before trump drops fuller in it to toady up to another authoritarian leader.

Posted on 12/1/17 | 8:41 PM CEST

gadaffi

How long before Erdogan reminds Trump of his access to the Putin files/piss tapes and Trump allows a successful abduction of Gülen now that Flynn has proved unfaithful.

Posted on 12/1/17 | 11:37 PM CEST

Jmc0i91

EU needs to restart accession talks with Turkey. Turkey needs to be part of future United States of Europe. Erdogan will be my top pick for future EU President poistion, unlike that famine French boy/girl combo.

Posted on 12/2/17 | 3:13 AM CEST

Jmc0i91

Gullen needs to be extradited back to Turkey. We haven’t had a decent public beheading since the time of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Posted on 12/2/17 | 3:20 AM CEST

russiancitizen

now that’s real meddling in internal affairs

good work, erdogan. russia stands with you against the west

Posted on 12/2/17 | 4:14 AM CEST

Milton38

Erdokhan, ruler of the Middle East.
Where there not Assad and his army and the Kurds. Both now have a few years of real war experience and would whop the Turkish army; who would then no doubt run crying to NATO and invoke their assistance, Including that of the so often maligned USA

Posted on 12/2/17 | 7:12 AM CEST

Milton38

@Jmc0i91
Go to Saudi my friend.
A good beheading every weekend.

Posted on 12/2/17 | 7:14 AM CEST

brubaker

Erdogan is doing all he can to ensure that Turkey is expelled from NATO and Turkey can go on to be the new Islamic State/Caliphate. In the meanwhile Turkey can forget about joining the EU. It is high time an international arrest warrant is issued against the megalomaniac.

Posted on 12/2/17 | 9:38 AM CEST

DSB11

Erdoğan is playing very dangerous game: allying himself with Putin and Iran. Putin will do what he has done in other countries; move his military into or close to Turkey and begin to steal its wealth. I’m afraid Turkey is no longer in practice part of NATO.